欲望 Yokubou – Lust – A Continuation
by M.P-chan
Summary: The long-awaited sequel to xShinran's "欲望 Yokubou – Lust" fanfiction. Ran 27 and Shinichi/Conan 17 are engaged and living together. But what about when insecurities come to the surface and threaten to break the relationship apart?


P-chan: Ok, I wrote my story I Remember You for xShinran, who wrote Yokubou – Lust for me. Then we came up with the idea of switching fanfictions. She's writing the sequel to my Two Hopes Forlorn, while this is the sequel to Yokubou – Lust. They're both good stories so please read them with an open mind! I was nervous about picking up another writer's work, but now that I'm done with this, I feel much more comfortable with the idea.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan. It belongs to Gosho Aoyama and Kodansha (if I'm not mistaken). Also "Yokubou – Lust" belongs to xShinran, and is her original fanfiction.

Previously: Shinichi Kudo/Edogawa comes to Ran sick of the lies and deceptions he's kept up over the years. There still isn't a cure for his condition, though he still has hope. He reveals that the Black Organization has long been defeated at the sacrifice of Ai Haibara, and Dr. Agasa is still working on the antidote. He begs Ran's forgiveness and asks for her hand in marriage. A teary Ran accepts.

欲望 Yokubou – Lust – A Continuation

Ran sat back in her chair, yawning as she stretched her stiff body. She'd been working for a while. Looking down at her paper, she frowned and tapped her pencil repeatedly against her brass pencil holder in irritation.

"No, that's not it! It's not supposed to look that way!" she told her piece of paper.

The woman sitting next to her at her own booth patted Ran on the shoulder comfortingly. " Don't worry about it so much Ran-san. You've been working on the autumn designs all day and you're probably just over-tired. Go home early and get some rest. You never know, you might have some fresh new ideas tomorrow. Besides what you have so far, isn't as bad as you think."

Ran gave her a look of appreciation. "Thanks Chizuru-chan. I think I'll take your advice. Besides, he'll be home early tonight as well, and it might be nice to have dinner ready before he gets home." Ran took put her pencils away and stored her designs her bag. She'd go over them with Shinichi later that night and see what he thought.

". . .He?" Chizuru echoed, both confused and shocked. Ran never mentioned or showed interest in men.

Ran gave Chizuru a polite smile and then walked away.

"Oh? You didn't know about Mori-san?" a girl in the both behind Ran's spun around to face Chizuru. "Everyone talks about it, you know. Not surprising really. Ran-san is always so sweet and polite so no one ever thought she was into . . . you know?"

"What? What do they say?"

"Well," the woman dropped her voice to a low whisper, "Mori-san may _look_ innocent, but she's actually taken in this boy. He's only 17 but they're _living alone together_. Rumors began about her keeping him around as hired help. You know how she has that investigation agency she helps run on the side, right?"

Chizuru nodded. Ran often talked about the interesting people she met and helped working as a low-key P.I.

"It turns out that the boy is _the_ Conan Edogawa."

Chizuru's eyes widened. There was hardly anyone who didn't know that name. Conan Edogawa was famous for having helped the police solve hundreds of cases. He was a genius who was studying criminal psychology at university even though he was only 17. He was an incredibly handsome boy who was often in the papers.

"So we all assumed he there to help her out with cases. Well, that was until he started showing up to take her home. They would walk holding hands! But that's not the best part! One of the girls from the printing department saw them downtown _kissing_!"

Chizuru gasped and covered her hand with her mouth.

The other woman nodded solemnly and continued. "And then, a week ago, she started wearing _that_."

The two ladies turned to look after Ran's figure in the distance. She stopped for a minute and then lifted her vibrating cell phone to her ear. A bright smile spread across her face as she talked. While the women were too far away to hear what she said, there was a sparkle on her hand.

"Is _that_ . . . what I _think_ it is?!" Chizuru breathed.

"Yes! She started wearing an _engagement ring_! Ever since then, no one has been able to stop the gossip. But Ran doesn't seem to hear it. Or if she doesn't she doesn't care. It's like she's in her own little world. As scandalous as it is, I have to say I envy her a bit. It's the way she's so _happy_. You can't help but want to cheer for her."

"So you're going to be a little late? That's okay. I'm making seafood pasta, and it's going to take a while, so you don't have to be in too much of a hurry."

"Thanks, Ran. Listen, a suspect just arrived for questioning so I'm going to have to let you go. I love you."

"I love you too, Shinichi." Ran hung up. Then she held up her hand to the sun and sighed happily as the sparkling ring reflected sunlight on the pavement.

Looking at her ring always filled her with a sense of joy. It meant Shinichi was home to stay. It was way of being connected to him in a way different from before. Still, it would have been _nicer_, if they had been married already. But Shinichi was making them wait.

Dr. Agasa still hadn't finished an antidote, it seems he wasn't anywhere close. And Shinichi refused to let Ran marry him as Conan. Ran hadn't cared at first, but it was started to get to her. And _this_ was the problem.

Ran arrived at Mori Investigations, to see the door blocked with evelopes.

_This_ was Conan's millions of gorgeous fangirls sending letters professing love and undying devotion.

She had expected this of course, but that didn't make her any less unpleasant.

Ran spent the entire afternoon stealing glances at the giant pile of letters she had moved out of the way into a pile on the floor. She was startled out of her glare-match with the letter by the sound of a key turning in the front door's lock. "Ran, I'm home." He called.

"Shinichi!" she went to give him a welcome home kiss, but he stopped her. "I need to take a shower first."

"A shower?"

"Yes, I'll be done in a few minutes.

". . . . All right?"

While she was waiting for Shinichi to finished his shower, Ran decided to do laundry. But she needed to wash Shinichi's dirty clothes, and turned on the TV instead. Some soap opra was one.

"How could you, Henry?!" A woman with tears running down her face was shaking her fist, more out of despair than anger, at a man.

"But, Dona, you have to believe me, it's not my fault! I couldn't help it! It was a moments of weakness!" The man tried to defend himself while comforting her.

" A 'moment of weakness'?! Don't make me laugh! It takes a lot more than 'weakness' to go sleep with another woman a weak before our wedding!!" She accused, flailing her arms wildly. "Why? It's it because she's _prettier_ than I am?! Is it because she's _younger_?!"

That last word caught Ran's ears a second before she changed the channel. The woman was older than the man? Ran looked again. Yes, she _was_ older.

"Dona, Dona! Please don't be like this! You know I _love_ you! It's just it got so hard! We go out and people think I'm your younger _brother_! I wanted, just once, to feel like a man should! Like a man a man who-"

"A man who _what_, Henry? You knew about this! About how people saw us! And you proposed to me anyway, so why all this? It's not enough to love me if you don't love me enough to be faithful to me! I should have known not to be with a younger man! You know, the girls warned me! They said, 'Dona don't do it. He's just like the rest of them. He'll use you until he finds someone else and then he'll throw you away for someone fresh and younger. He's just like the rest of them, you'll see.' But did I listen? No, because I trusted you! But I see I was wrong. Henry, the wedding is** OVER**!"

Then the woman left with the man stumbling after her, calling her name.

Ran immediately turned off the TV. Her head hurt and she suddenly felt like crawling under the covers and staying there for a long time. But she didn't. She decided to finished laundry.

Ran walked into the bathroom to gather Shinichi's clothes. He couldn't hear her over the running water. But she suddenly felt very weak when he picked up his shirt. It was very faint, but there was definitely the smell of a woman's perfume all over it.

Shinichi dressed himself and dried his hair. He's had a tough day. He was thankful it was over and he could spend some quality time with Ran.

But she didn't seem in the mood. When he went to kiss her, she didn't stop him, but show any affection as if she were distracted. At dinner she didn't speak a word. Eventually, the silence got to him.

"Ran what's the matter?"

She didn't look at him when she answered. "It's nothing, I'm just tired today is all. I've been working on the designs for the company autumn fashion designs, but they haven't been turning out so well.

"I see. Well, have you talked to you mother lately?"

"Yes. She's okay. I'm going to go to my room, okay?" Ran stood up and walked past Shinichi, not even looking him in the eye. He caught her wrist.

" Ran, are you okay? What's wrong with you?"

"No, I'm not fine, you jerk! I'm not fine at all!" Her voice was cracking. How could he? After all this lying, he was cheating on her too?

"Ran, talk with me! What are you going on about?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? How about you ask that girl you were with today?"

Shinichi groaned. "I thought you'd take it that way. Listen, Ran, it's not what you think-"

"Oh really?"

Yes, really. I told you I'd be late today. The suspect I was interrogating was the victim's wife. She was somewhat torn up about his death, and I was just comforting her."

"By sleeping with her?! I'm sorry for not being young!"

"WHAT?!" Shinichi looked shocked. "What are you thinking?"

Ran told him about the drama she had seen on the TV. He surprised her by bursting into laughter.

"You saw that? And thought I was cheating on you?" Shinichi tried gasping for breath. "Oh all the stupidest things . . . " he clutched his ribs which were beginning to ache.

Ran blushed slightly in embarrassment. "What did you expect me to think? After all, you keep pushing back the wedding and-"

Shinichi stopped laughing. "You think I'm pushing the wedding back because I'm not sure?" He took her face in his hands. "I've _been_ sure since we were kids. I came back to you, didn't I?"

"You kept telling me you didn't tell me because of that evil organization, but that case was closed 7 _years_ ago. Why did wait 7 years if you were sure? Why are we still waiting?"

Shinichi blushed, but he did look away from her face. "Because I was afraid you'd reject me. So far there isn't a cure, but if I had come to you as a child then . . . it's wouldn't be as easy as it is now. I actually had been planning on waiting a little longer, but I couldn't take being away from you anymore."

Ran flushed again. A romantic relationship between a 10 year old and a 20 year old would not have been looked kindly upon. They already got enough weird looks for being 17 and 27. She could kind of see where he was coming from.

"But what about know? Why are we waiting now? We never know when you'll be cured. And you've come to be a public figure now. You can't just disappear and then reappear as Shinichi! It's a miracle that no one noticed you were gone the first time!"

"Other than you." He amended.

"Other than me." She agreed.

"Ran, I don't want to live as Conan Edogawa. Even if Shinichi Kudo doesn't have a future, that's who I am. I decided to live my life free from all the lies I've had to build up over the years. I'm not alone. I have my parents, and Hattori, and Megure, and Agasa. And I have you too, don't I?"

" . . .Yes. I'll be there. The whole way, and even at the end, I'll be there." She laughed, though it lacked humor. "It seems I'm going to be waiting awhile, won't I?"

"What do you mean?" Shinichi leaned down to kiss her mouth. "I'll be here with you the whole time. There isn't anything to really wait for. We'll be together for now on."

"Yeah," Ran looked at the band on Shinichi's finger, shining just as brightly as her ring, "We'll be together."

~ - - - ~

Eight years later, Ran Mori and Shinichi Kudo were married, surrounded by close friends and family members. And they really did stay together, until the ends of their days.

Owari

P-chan: Well, that's it. I hope you all like it, xShinran especially!

The idea came from CLAMP's The One I Love. In it there's a story about a girl who is dumped by her younger boyfriend for another, younger girl. The story talked about the difficulty age can cause in a relationship because of insecurity. I think feelings like that are natural, and if Shinichi was going to stay 10 years younger's, it was probably something they eventually would have to face.


End file.
